On August 7, a government official informed that he had alerted the Ministry of Civil Aviation about the increased airfare for destinations from India and the United Kingdom (UK) amid peak student season.
This comes after the UK moved India to the Amber list which does not require fully vaccinated individuals from the country to go under a mandatory ten-day hotel quarantine.
While Britain’s announcement relieved the Indian diaspora who had been demanding relaxations of travel curbs, the demand due to more than three months of the travel ban as well as the peak student season has resulted in a rapid increase in airfares.
As per Google Travel, the fare of British Airways for one way travel from New Delhi to London on August 26 is ₹3.95 lakh. The ticket price between the two cities on other airlines like Air India and Air Vistara is in the range of ₹1.2 lakh to ₹2.3 lakh.
Sanjeev Gupta, Secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs, shared certain screenshots on Twitter while raising concerns over the high prices during the time of college admission.
Fare of ₹ 3.95 lakh one way Delhi to London on Aug 26. No, it's not 1st class. It's economy on @British_Airways. @airindiain @airvistara etc. also 1.2 to 2.3 lakh. College admission time! See minimum fare on @GoogleTravel in August. Have alerted Secretary @MoCA_GoI. @JM_Scindia pic.twitter.com/uxFF8dgaLk
— Sanjeev Gupta (@sanjg2k1) August 7, 2021
The official account of Air India replied, “Sir, We are trying to identify the source of these fares. The current fares available on our official website for Delhi London sector is approximately 1.15 L.”
Gupta responded by calling the fare “exorbitant” and “unaffordable.”
Even 1.15 lakh is exorbitant and unaffordable for must students seeking admission purely on merit and not on financial strength. I am able to identify perhaps a technical issue in display of those very high fares on travel portals & @GoogleTravel. Will write in some time.
— Sanjeev Gupta (@sanjg2k1) August 7, 2021
